“It is particularly exciting to see $15 million of funding allocated to the Significant Projects Fund (SPF). The SPF was re-launched in 2013 to assist large scale community projects of regional or national significance to progress.

“In the past year the SPF has funded a number of major projects, including the restoration of the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch; the Waitangi National Trust Board’s Museum of Waitangi; and the Southland District Council’s ‘Around the Mountains Cycle Trail’. Each of these will deliver real benefits to New Zealand communities and make a significant impact on people’s lives; the Board and I are looking forward to seeing what projects are allocated funding in the next round”, says Mr Dunne.

The Board has also acknowledged the significance of the approaching centenary of World War One with $5 million of funding being allocated to enable more communities to recognise the impact of the war locally, nationally and internationally.

“The recent funding round for World War One Commemorations saw 80 projects receiving funding. It was great to see the wide range of projects, from the nationally significant, such as the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Cenotaph Home and Community project to local initiatives such as the Tokoroa District Memorial Returned Services Association’s Field of Remembrance.

“The Board will continue to support arts, culture and sporting initiatives through funding of over $97 million to the three statutory bodies supported by the Board: the New Zealand Film Commission (including the New Zealand Film Archive), Creative New Zealand and Sport New Zealand” says Mr Dunne.

A full breakdown of the 2014/15 allocation is below.

2014/15 Amount ($)

Sport New Zealand

47,603,030

Creative New Zealand

34,155,000

New Zealand Film Commission (including New Zealand Film Archive)

15,939,000

Total (direct allocations)

97,697,030

2014/15 Amount ($)

Lottery Regional Community Committees

Northland

1,733,764

Auckland

9,527,172

Waikato

3,539,135

Bay of Plenty/Gisborne

2,899,458

Taranaki

947,086

Hawke’s Bay

1,306,024

Manawatu/Whanganui

2,110,211

Wellington/Wairarapa

3,016,413

West Coast/Nelson-Marlborough

1,406,053

Canterbury/Kaikoura

3,686,320

Otago/Southland

2,224,330

Sub-total (Lottery Regional
Community Committees Allocation)

32,395,966

Lottery National Committees

Significant Projects Fund

15,000,000

National Community

12,087,284

Community Facilities

14,086,358

Community Sector Research

508,082

World War One Commemorations,
Environment and Heritage

14,912,525
(includes $5,000,000 specifically for
World War One Commemorations activities)

Health Research

3,452,996

Individuals with Disabilities

4,784,287

Marae Heritage and Facilities

7,460,359

Minister’s Discretionary Fund

341,323

Outdoor Safety

6,906,665

Applicant’s GST Expenses

799,722

Sub-total (National Committees Allocation)

80,339,601

Total Distribution Committees

$112,735,567

Tax pooling assists businesses by making it easier for them to plan for changes in tax obligations. The current rules allow taxpayers to withdraw funds from a tax pool to cover the tax owed but not any interest that might be due. This can result in further interest accruing on the remaining amount which was not the original intention of the legislation.

“This decision will be welcomed by the tax advisory community who were consulted during the process and have been seeking this amendment for some time,” Mr McClay says.

“For businesses, a key concern is certainty in their tax affairs.”

“The current situation is contrary to the original principle of tax pooling and has a real impact for a growing number of taxpayers who are either in dispute with the Inland Revenue or subject to an amended tax assessment.”

“Meeting tax obligations can present problems for many businesses as a result of timing and assessment issues. Tax pooling rules can be helpful in allowing businesses to pool their tax payments with those of other businesses, through commercial intermediaries.”

To ensure that taxpayers have certainty the Government proposes to introduce an amendment in the next available tax bill to apply retrospectively from today’s date.

“The amendment will help ensure that the pooling regime continues to be helpful for New Zealand businesses and will allow them to conduct their tax affairs with certainty,” Mr McClay says.

“We have made improvements to the financial service provider registration rules and introduced new powers to allow the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to block the registration of financial service providers if needed,” Mr Foss says.

“The registration changes will help prevent misuse of the register by dodgy individuals trying to exploit New Zealand’s good name.

“Dispute resolution schemes already play an important role in resolving complaints against financial service providers, at no cost to the consumer. These changes will ensure a wider range of complaints can be considered by dispute resolution schemes, including matters relating to the upcoming credit reforms.

“The schemes can now also share information about systematic breaches of credit law with the Commerce Commission.”

Changes coming into force today include:

Providing the FMA with the ability to block the registration of a financial service provider if that registration would create a misleading impression of its services.
Disqualifying from registration anyone with overseas criminal convictions for theft, fraud or money laundering in last five years.
Disestablishing the reserve dispute resolution scheme – it is no longer required as there are a range of other schemes covering all types of financial service providers.
Ensuring the dispute resolution schemes have sufficient jurisdiction over disputes relating to the upcoming credit reforms.

The Ministry of Youth Development funding will support a diverse range of organisations and projects. Recipients are the Far North District Council, the Great Potentials Foundation, the Isolated Communities youth grant fund, the LGBTI youth sector, and the volunteer youth programme for New Zealand Fashion Week.

“I want to see young people across New Zealand have opportunities to develop their confidence and self-management skills, engage in positive activities, connect with their communities, and grow their leadership abilities,” Ms Kaye says.

“The value of such opportunities is that they connect young people with mentors and organisations that will offer guidance, support and encouragement.

“This funding has been allocated across a diverse range of initiatives, from those that help disadvantaged youth to those that provide leadership opportunities for young people in rural communities. Collectively, hundreds of young people from around New Zealand will benefit from it.”

The Ministry of Youth Development provides funding for projects that are initiated and led by young people, those in partnership with territorial authorities, and programmes and services delivered by community-based organisations.

For further information: http://www.myd.govt.nz/funding/

Editor’s notes:

Far North District Council
$7000 to deliver leadership initiatives in Horeke, north of Kaikohe. In partnership with the Northern Rural Fire Authority and the Horeke community, the council is establishing a leadership programme to develop young people’s sense of ownership and belonging to the community. http://www.myd.govt.nz/funding/

Great Potentials Foundation
$15,000 to support the Mentoring and Tutoring Education Scheme (MATES) junior mentoring programme. University students and teacher trainees provide support in mentoring and tutoring intermediate school students during the transition from intermediate to secondary school. http://www.greatpotentials.org.nz/

Isolated Communities youth grant fund
$20,000 to be directly administered by the Ministry. This will support one-off youth initiatives in remote areas including Waiheke Island, Great Barrier Island, Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. http://www.myd.govt.nz/funding/

LGBTI Youth Sector
$60,000 remaining from a $100,000 fund to support the sector to sustain and build on existing activities. This will be administered by Ara Taiohi. http://www.arataiohi.org.nz/

NZ Fashion Week youth programme
$20,000 to support the volunteer programme for New Zealand Fashion Week. The programme provides participants with learning opportunities, skills development and experience in a variety of roles associated with Fashion Week and the wider fashion industry. http://www.nzfashionweek.co.nz/

The Ministry of Youth Development funding will help to kick-start initiatives and events for Christchurch youth, following today’s release of the results of the 2013 Youth Wellbeing Survey, Ms Kaye says.

The funding will help address concerns raised in the survey, led by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), which gathered the views of more than 3000 young people aged 12 to 24 across the greater Christchurch region.

“When we look at some comparative data from CERA, the young people of Christchurch seem to be doing better than other groups in some areas – particularly on measures of quality of life and sense of community,” Ms Kaye says.

However, the survey highlighted the need to do more in several areas, Ms Kaye says, such as the development of spaces and places, emotional wellbeing, and future plans and prospects.

“The Canterbury Youth Initiative Fund will focus on these issues by supporting the delivery of a series of initiatives and events developed by, and targeted at, young people across the greater Christchurch region.

“As a result of the earthquakes, the young people of Christchurch City in particular have lost many of the places they used to gather at, as well as sports and recreation facilities.

“With this in mind, the government is providing funding for youth-led initiatives to act as a catalyst for ideas and events in Canterbury. I hope that this will put young people at the heart of some of the innovative initiatives that are happening in Christchurch, and encourage their participation in city life.”

The funding will cover 50 new Projects ($56 million), 4 new Programmes ($20 million), and 14 Emerging Researcher First Grants ($2.02 million), and has increased significantly from last year due to the release of funds from maturing contracts.

“The Government has been able to increase its funding offers for grants in 2014 by almost $18 million above the 2013 funding round,” Mr Joyce says.

“Many of the research contracts awarded after the significant funding increase announced in the 2010 budget finish at the end of this year or during 2014/2015 financial year. This has allowed us to fund more projects in 2014.”

In 2013, a total of $60.2 million was awarded for 33 Projects ($33.9 million), 5 Programmes (24.8 million), and 10 Emerging Researcher First Grants ($1.5 million).

Mr Ryall says the success rates of researchers in the HRC’s funding round are higher this year than last year – and in the case of Projects, 23 percent higher (53 percent in 2014 versus 30 percent in 2013).

“We’re delighted to be able to fund more research contracts to support New Zealand’s excellent health researchers who will advance our knowledge of health, improve health outcomes for New Zealanders, and provide access to the international health research arena,” Mr Ryall says.

One of the Projects funded is part of a landmark three-year diabetes prevention trial across New Zealand, Australia, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Spain and Bulgaria. Professor Sally Poppitt from the University of Auckland will carry out the New Zealand arm of the trial, which aims to test if a higher protein diet is more successful for weight loss and diabetes prevention than the current international best practice of a higher carbohydrate diet.

The researchers behind two novel implant ideas have both received Project funding to test the key technical and scientific requirements of their devices. Professor Simon Malpas from the University of Auckland will develop a tiny implant that will allow clinicians to wirelessly monitor long term the intracranial pressure, brain temperature and fluid flow of patients with excess fluid on the brain. While Dr Mark Staiger from the University of Canterbury aims to develop high strength metal plates and screws that will break down safely in the body.

Other Project recipients include Professor Tim Anderson from the University of Otago, Christchurch, who will carry out advanced brain scans, gene testing, and clinical evaluations in Parkinson’s disease patients with mild cognitive impairment, and Māori neuroscientist Dr Melanie Cheung from the University of Auckland, who will measure the effectiveness of a special brain resilience training programme that she and her team have developed in partnership with the Brain Plasticity Institute in San Francisco, US, to slow the progression of Huntington’s disease.

Some of the grants reflect the Government’s strong focus on maternal health, pregnancy and early childhood. Examples include University of Otago, Dunedin, Programme recipient Professor David Grattan, whose ‘Healthy pregnancy, healthy babies’ study will evaluate how specific pregnancy hormones induce changes in the mother’s brain. Also, Emerging Researcher First Grant recipients Dr Jacqueline Henderson (University of Canterbury), who will assess the effects of methadone exposure during pregnancy on children’s brain and nervous system development, and Dr Joanna James (University of Auckland) whose research aims to determine if mesenchymal stem cells could be a viable treatment for pregnant women who experience intrauterine growth restriction.

“Four years after the Government’s comprehensive tax reforms, latest data confirms that New Zealand’s income tax and support system significantly redistribute incomes to households in need,” Finance Minister Bill English says.

“It is now clear that higher income households are paying a larger share of income tax than they were in 2008.”

“As I’ve said previously, the Government has maintained a redistributive income tax and income support system that supports low and middle income families and helps New Zealanders through times of need. So at any particular time, a large number of households effectively don’t pay income tax,” Mr English says.

“The amount these households pay in income tax is exceeded by the amount they receive from welfare benefits, Working for Families, paid parental leave and accommodation subsidies. That’s entirely appropriate for those families genuinely in need.”

Using data from the Household Economic Survey, Treasury has updated information provided last year to include forecasts for the 2014/15 tax year.

The Treasury estimates that this year households earning over $150,000 a year – the top 15 per cent of households by income – will pay 49 per cent of income tax.

But when benefit payments, Working for Families, paid parental leave and accommodation support are taken into account, these 15 per cent of households are expected to pay 74 per cent of the net income tax. And that is before New Zealand Superannuation payments are counted.

It also excludes the impact of other aspects of the tax changes in 2010, including tightening property tax rules and compliance, and increasing GST.

By contrast, households earning under $60,000 a year – which is just under half of all households – are expected to pay 9 per cent of income tax.

“When we take income support payments into account, as a group they will actually pay no net income tax at all,” Mr English says.

“That’s because the $2.5 billion of income tax they are expected to pay will be more than offset by the $7.3 billion they will receive in income support.

“It’s appropriate to maintain a tax and income support system that helps low and middle income households when they most need it.

“But people who call for even greater transfers to low income families, or who call for the top tax rate to be raised, need to be aware of how redistributive the tax and income support system already is,” Mr English says.

“This also highlights the importance of Government policies to support people out of welfare and into work.”

“Since its inception in the mid-1980s, iwi radio has played a critical role in making our reo available to whanau in their homes, in their cars, and in a range of settings,” Dr Sharples says.

“Through new technology, they connect our whanau, hapu and iwi all over the world to the news and the happenings in our home towns and in our communities.

“These radio stations have become vibrant hubs for our iwi, as they present korero about what is happening in communities, in our iwi affairs, and among our people.

“With this new investment, we can expect to see more Māori language content and more quality programming to support our whanau in their engagement with te reo.

“The additional $12 million over four years increases the Government’s total commitment to iwi radio to $13.7 million in operating funds per year.”

Budget 2014 also provides an additional $1.5 million of operating funding over four years to support Te Mangai Pāho to archive historic Māori language programming.

“Over many years, iwi radio and television producers have accumulated a wonderful library of programmes,” Dr Sharples says. “There are many interviews of kaumatua who are no longer with us, or broadcasts from major hui. These recordings are taonga, and it’s important that we protect and preserve them.”

These initiatives support Māori community development as well as Māori language revitalisation efforts.

The extra funding will help whānau and their engagement in a range of services.

“The navigators, who support engagement with whānau and families to achieve their goals, have been crucial in helping families to develop a plan to address their needs and help them access a range of services,” Mrs Turia says.

“The role of the navigators is to increase the capacity of whānau and families to do more for themselves, to become self-reliant, and to make their own decisions for their future.

“This ongoing funding will ensure that families have the support they need on their pathway to a better future.”

Meanwhile, the Government has also announced a contestable $10 million fund over four years to focus on Māori sporting and cultural activities and support for sports and cultural bodies.

“Sport and culture is an intrinsic part of Māori communities,” Mrs Turia says. “Our cultural and sporting bodies play a huge role in nurturing whanaungatanga among families, as well as providing opportunities for exercise and recreation.”

The $10 million allocation is a reprioritisation from the Whakamana Leadership Fund from Vote Māori Affairs.

“Business heat accounts for approximately 30 per cent of New Zealand’s energy use, with around two-thirds generated from fossil fuels,” Mr Bridges says.

“By encouraging businesses to switch to renewable energy sources, such as wood, to generate their heat, we can significantly reduce New Zealand’s carbon emissions.

“Wood energy has a zero carbon footprint, and can be used instead of coal or gas in many situations.

“Southland has a significant forestry and wood processing industry, which generates 300,000 tonnes of wood waste each year.

“This wood waste could be cost-effectively used for industrial and commercial heat processes, but it is currently overlooked because of uncertainty in the market. Potential users are concerned about certainty of supply, and potential suppliers are unsure whether the demand justifies investment.

“The renewable heat hub initiative will see the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) work with suppliers and users in Southland to overcome this barrier.

“The Government will invest $1.5 million over three years to encourage uptake of renewable heat, with private investment expected to match or better this funding.

The initiative is expected to save 8,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to taking 2,500 cars off the road. Over the lifetime of the measures almost 200,000 tonnes of CO2 will be saved,” Mr Bridges says.